Computerworld Magazine: DeschutesCounty.org One of Best Government Web Sites

Dec 08,2006 00:00 by
Bend Weekly News Sources

Out of 11,227 national government websites, Deschutes County’s website at www.deschutes.org ranks as one of the Best Government Sites according to Computerworld Magazine in their November 27th issue. The City of Beaverton was also recognized in the national study.

Deschutes.org was ranked as one of the "Best Government Sites" by Computerworld Magazine.

Trained reviewers from the National Policy Research Council (NPRC) in collaboration with Computerworld Magazine, visited 11,227 official state and local government Web sites. The siteswere awarded points for 25 features in seven categories including usability, citizen responsiveness, accessibility for disabled visitors, information tools, online procurement, job opportunities, and interactive permits and payments. Deschutes County received an “A” and was one of only 30 government sites receiving top grades. Government bodies were not notified of the project prior to its conduct.

"We are thrilled to be rated as one of the Best Government web sites in the nation.We strive to provide Deschutes County’s citizens, businesses and visitors easy access to information and applications and are gratified for being recognized for successfully accomplishing this.It has been a team effort and every county department who actively publishes information on the county internet site shares a large part of the credit," says Tom Cornilliac, senior web applications developer.

In September of 2004, Deschutes County’s website was also recognized by the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA http://www.3cma.org ) with a national award in the category of “Technology Services-Websites” for cities and counties with populations of 130,000 to 225,000.

Computerworld confirmed in the November article that “A common theme among governments with top-ranked sites was a penchant for listening to what local citizens and businesses want via online surveys and comment fields.”

Deschutes County’s online information technology crew; Tom Cornilliac, Becky McElrath, Toby Cundell and Bob Haas are to be acknowledged for redesigning, launching and maintaining the site since 2004. “Webmasters” in each Deschutes County department also contribute to the site’s freshness, posting news and important information on a daily basis.